Vengeance
“Bowie, stop,” Chloe snapped, stepping between them.
“The fuck I will,” Bowie growled. “Why is this motherfucker in my bar?”
“That tells me absolutely nothing,” Bowie growled.
One of the older bikers behind Bowie stepped forward. He was broad as a damn truck with gray in his beard and enough scars to suggest life had tried killing him repeatedly. “Want us to drag him outside?” he asked calmly.
Chloe whipped around to face the biker, answering for her father. “Absolutely not.”
Bowie ignored her completely, his eyes never leaving Vengeance. “You got ten seconds to explain why you’re in my club talking to my daughter while we buried Savage.”
Vengeance leaned back slightly, measuring the room.
Every man there looked exhausted in their funeral clothes, with their red eyes and barely controlled rage.
The smell of whiskey and grief clung to them stronger than cigarette smoke.
This was bad timing, but the Black Veil Syndicate wasn’t going to give a fuck about timing.
“They’re coming,” he said simply. That seemed to get their attention.
“Who?” Bowie asked.
“The Black Veil Syndicate,” he said. The room went still, which was interesting. He was betting that some of the men knew the name.
“Fuck,” somebody muttered behind Bowie.
Another biker cursed under his breath, and Bowie’s expression darkened dangerously. “How do you know about that?”
“Because they approached my club first,” he said. That shifted the mood instantly. Now they weren’t just looking at him like an intruder. Now they were evaluating him and judging whether he was the enemy.
“You with them?” Bowie asked quietly.
“No,” Vengeance said.
“Then why are you here?” Bowie asked.
Vengeance glanced toward Chloe before answering. “Because your family’s in danger. Savage saved me once, and I’m returning the favor.”
Bowie’s jaw flexed hard enough to crack teeth. “My family’s always in danger.”
“Not like this,” he insisted.
The older biker moved farther into the room.
“You got proof?” Vengeance reached slowly into his kutte pocket, making damn sure everybody could see his hands.
Half the room tensed anyway. He pulled out an envelope and tossed it onto the bar.
Bowie grabbed it, pulling out the photos that were inside.
They were surveillance shots of Chloe leaving community college, Dallas shopping with the younger kids, and Bowie outside of their house.
There were even some pictures of Savage Hell that were obviously taken from right across the street, and even several pictures of Chloe alone.
The temperature in the room felt as though it had dropped by twenty degrees, and Bowie went deathly still.
“Oh, hell no,” Chloe whispered beside him. Vengeance watched the exact moment Bowie stopped grieving and became something much colder—murderous.
The older biker looked through the pictures, his face twisting darker with every image. “Where’d you get these?”
“Intercepted them two nights ago,” he said. “From a guy at a bar about two hours from here. He said that he had something that I might be interested in, so I met up with him.”
“Why?” Bowie asked.
“Because one of the Syndicate’s runners is sleeping with one of my club girls.
” He shrugged. “He talks too much, and it’s going to get all of us killed.
The guy knew who my father was and assumed that I’d be good with trying to tear down the Royal Bastards.
Fucker didn’t plan on me being nothing like my old man. ”
“Convenient,” Bowie said coldly. Vengeance didn’t say anything.
He really didn’t expect any of the Bastards to believe him, given that his father was Dante.
He was the Prez of the Dragons when they took Chloe.
His father had a beef with Savage and tried to take him down by kidnapping his daughter.
He planned on selling her off to the highest bidder at auction, but Savage made sure that didn’t happen.
His father was a monster, and Vengeance didn’t want to be anything like him.
“You expect me to trust you?” Bowie asked.
“No.” That answer seemed to throw him slightly. Vengeance stood slowly from the stool as every eye in the room tracked him instantly. “I’m not here asking for trust,” he said. “I’m telling you there’s a target on your family, and the Syndicate plans to use Savage’s death to move in.”
Chloe looked pale now, though she was trying hard not to show it. “You said they approached your club first,” she said quietly. “What did they want?”
“To partner with the Dragons to help take down the Royal Bastards,” he admitted.
“And, my Prez told them to fuck off,” Vengeance said.
“We haven’t had any problems with the Royal Bastards since Dante left, and we don’t want any now.
” He noticed the shiver that ran through Chloe at the mention of his father’s name.
If she only knew who he was, she wouldn’t be standing there talking to him right now.
Hell, she probably would have gutted him before he even had a chance to sit up to the bar.
A couple of the Royal Bastards smirked at that, but Bowie didn’t. “What’s your angle?” he demanded.
Vengeance met his stare evenly. “I’ve already told you that Savage once saved my life. I’m paying back my debt.” He knew that he had a hell of a lot more to make up for after what his father did to Chloe, but he’d work on that.
That clearly wasn’t what Bowie expected him to say. “When did Savage help you?” he asked.
“Years ago. Before your daughter was old enough to work in this bar.” He rubbed his jaw once.
“I got myself into something ugly with another club. Savage could’ve handed me over and avoided a war.
Instead, he stepped in, and I’m alive today because of him.
” Bowie’s expression shifted slightly, like he could believe that, because it sounded exactly like Savage.
“He told me someday I’d have a chance to return the favor.” Vengeance looked toward Chloe briefly. “Guess this is it.” The room quieted again. It wasn’t the peaceful kind of quiet either, but the kind that happened just before violence broke out. He knew it well.
Bowie finally tossed the pictures back onto the bar. “You done here then?”
“No,” Vengeance said. Several men immediately bristled, but Vengeance ignored them.
“The Syndicate won’t hit the club first,” he continued. “They’ll hit individual members and will probably start with those who were closest to Savage.”
Chloe crossed her arms tightly over herself. “You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true,” Vengeance growled.
“She doesn’t leave this clubhouse alone anymore,” Bowie said flatly to his guys.
“That’ll help,” Vengeance grumbled.
Bowie barked a harsh laugh. “What, you don’t think that hiding my daughter in the clubhouse will help to keep her safe?”
“No,” Vengeance answered honestly. “But it’ll keep her breathing for the time being.”
That nearly started a fight. One biker surged forward instantly. “Watch your fucking mouth—”
“Enough,” Bowie snapped. The room fell silent again. Vengeance respected him for that alone. Most clubs lost their damn minds when emotions got high, but Bowie still had control of Savage Hell.
“What do they want?” Bowie finally asked.
“Territory, access, money. Savage kept Huntsville locked down for years. Now they think there’s weakness here. They want everything the Bastards own,” Vengeance said.
“There isn’t weakness here,” Bowie growled.
“I know that,” Vengeance said, “but they don’t.”
Chloe suddenly spoke up beside him. “Why do I feel like you’re leaving something out?
” His eyes slid to hers. She was a smart girl—too smart, because there was something he hadn’t told them yet.
It was something that was going to make this entire situation infinitely worse.
The Syndicate didn’t just want Savage Hell; they wanted Chloe specifically, and judging by the contract Vengeance had seen with her picture attached to it, they wanted her alive for a reason.
Vengeance Universal Link->
Ready for your next binge read? Then, you won’t want to miss book 2 of the Dirty Daddies Series. Baby Daddy is releasing in June 2026!